Snowmaggedon, Road Closures & the Calming Effect of Bible Reading:
A quick update on the past week, and Week 4 readings.
When I posted last week’s readings (Wednesday night), I was anticipating a move on Thursday morning. On Move-Day, when I woke up, the road between Wiarton and Tobermory was closed due to winter weather. We plan - God laughs!
I rescheduled with the moving company for this week, in the hope of better weather.
It seems, since last week, every possible snowflake has fallen from the heavens on the Saugeen (Bruce) Peninsula! Highway 6 - the main county road between Wiarton and Tobermory - was closed from Monday through today.
So you can imagine, if you were waiting to move, the kind of anxiety this might cause. I was intent on NOT unpacking things I had packed.
But, interestingly, I was not eaten alive by anxiety as may normally have been the case. I think this has a lot to do with the simple act of reading the Bible every day, with a group of people who are reading the same readings as me each day.
Yesterday, we had our first ZOOM session as a group of readers and aspiring readers, to simply share our experience of this Read the Bible in One Year project. We reported different ways and times of reading: some were following along in The Message Translation, others using different translations, some reading early in the morning, others reading just before bed. A number of us had to catch up a day when we would miss one, here and there. But across the board, the reading seems to have a grounding effect on us. And knowing we were doing it with others was a big encouragement.
If you are thinking of joining but worried you’ve missed too much, I want to encourage you to begin this week, and just join in. On Sunday, we begin the book of Exodus, so that might be a gentle entry point if you do not want to start in the middle of everything. If reading four segments feels overwhelming, consider picking one book only (Genesis/Exodus, Matthew, Psalms or Proverbs). We would love to have you join us in this reading in whatever way feels manageable to you.
We also decided to meet again, in three weeks, to check in with each other. This time, we will note, as we read, anything that particularly stands out for us as we read, that we would like to share with each other.
These are our week 4 readings:
Thursday January 22nd – Genesis 44:1 to Genesis: 45:28, Matthew14:13-36,
Psalm 18:31-50, Proverbs 4:10-15.
Friday January 23rd - Genesis 46: to Genesis 47:31, Matthew 15:1-28, Psalm
19:1-14, Proverbs 4:16-19.
Saturday January 24th - Genesis 48:1 to Genesis 49:33, Matthew 15:29 to
Matthew 16:12, Psalm 20:1-9, Proverbs 4:20-27.
Sunday January 25th - Genesis 50:1 to Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13 to
Matthew 17:9, Psalm 21:1-13, Proverbs 5:1-6.
Monday January 26th – Exodus 2:11 to Exodus 3:22, Matthew 17:10-27,
Psalm 22:1-18, Proverbs 5:7-14.
Tuesday January 27th – Exodus 4:1 to Exodus 5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalm
22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-20.
Wednesday January 28th -Exodus 5:22 to Exodus 7:25, Matthew 18:21 to
Matthew 19:12, Psalms 23:1-6, Proverbs 5:21-23.
May the calmness of God’s Word accompany your days!
snowy road - Photo by Dmitry Makarov on Unsplash
reading the Bible - Photo by Alexandra Fuller on Unsplash